According to a piece I just read over at ThinkProgress the Feds are restricting the AirSpace and Access to the really hardest hit areas in Texas. I have to assume that they are fearing a Katrina Backlash to hit hard and fast. A reporter from one of the hardest hit area Bolivar and the West End told asked Gov. why the media is being denied access to his home area. The Video after the jumps makes it pretty clear the Feds have locked down the Airspace over that area. One has to ask themselves why?
Here is a short bit of the transcript and a link. Media restricted from covering Hurricane Ike’s devastation.
DOLCEFINO: That is unprecedented and quite honestly not appropriate because it’s our job to inform people. Why can’t we go to Bolivar and West End?
PERRY: I think when the local officials decide it was appropriate, whether it’s the media or first responders or what have you. The fact of the matter, that is actually a local decision, Wayne, that is made by the local county judge and by the mayor of those —
DOLCEFINO: They don’t control that area.
Is the Bush Admin. trying to cover up the lost of lives ? The level of devastation ? Maybe they just don't want the next Brownie round of coverage but that does not give them the right to block the Media in our own country from a area as if it were Iraq , or does it ?
Reports from that area are that the First Responders got into Bolivar today. The news is very bad with many homes just not there anymore.
A Texas helicopter task force flew 115 rescuers onto the heavily damaged resort barrier island of Bolivar Peninsula, just east of the hard-hit city of Galveston. Task force leader Chuck Jones said they were the first rescuers to reach the area.
"They had a lot of devastation over there," Jones said. "It took a direct hit."
Some subdivisions in the area are completely gone, he said.
Beginning cleanup was still a distant thought as rescue teams continued going door-to-door to look for survivors and bring them to shelters. Crews had no idea what they would find on the peninsula, which from the air, revealed house after shattered house.
Relief workers were hoping to make it back from Bolivar to Galveston tonight, but they were packing for an overnight stay just in case. http://news.bostonherald.com/...
A commenter over at ThinkProgess left this link to the FAA page about the restrictions. Here is that link with thanks, http://tfr.faa.gov/...